--- title: Iran Heat Wave Creates Temperatures Up to 164 Degrees Fahrenheit description: A heat wave over the Middle East sent temperatures skyrocketing in Iran and Iraq over the weekend. canonical: https://time.com/3981478/iran-heatwave-bandar-mahsahr/ author: Jack Linshi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-02T19:24:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T09:49:02.895Z article:section: World og:title: The Temperature in This Iranian City Just Hit 164 Degrees og:description: Eat your heart out, Death Valley og:url: https://time.com/3981478/iran-heatwave-bandar-mahsahr/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Temperature in This Iranian City Just Hit 164 Degrees twitter:description: Eat your heart out, Death Valley twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Temperature in This Iranian City Just Hit 164 Degrees  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Aug 2, 2015 7:24 PM CUT  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Aug 2, 2015 7:24 PM CUT A heat wave passing over the Middle East sent temperatures skyrocketing to extreme levels in Iran over the weekend — so high that one city almost broke a world record. The heat index in Bandar Mahshahr, a city of over 100,000 atop the Persian Gulf, reached an astonishing 164 degrees (73 Celsius) on Friday afternoon , according the [Weather Channel.](http://www.weather.com/news/news/iraq-iran-heat-middle-east-125-degrees "undefined") The heat index is also known as the “feels-like” temperature, which combines air temperature with relative humidity, which soars during the summer due the city’s proximity to water. > [](http://twitter.com/RyanMaue/status/626789312546349057) In Iraq, air temperatures continued to exceed 120 degrees (49 Celcius) for the eighth day in a row on Sunday, according to the Weather Channel. The heat had become so scorching on Thursday that the Iraqi government mandated a four-day holiday. The highest-known heat index — 178 degrees (81 Celcius) — was recorded in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on July 8, 2003. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3981478/iran-heatwave-bandar-mahsahr/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3981478/iran-heatwave-bandar-mahsahr/"},"headline":"The Temperature in This Iranian City Just Hit 164 Degrees","datePublished":"2015-08-02T19:24:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:49:02.895Z","description":"Amid a heat wave over the Middle East","url":"https://time.com/3981478/iran-heatwave-bandar-mahsahr/","keywords":["weather","Iran"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/weather/","name":"weather"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3981478/iran-heatwave-bandar-mahsahr/","name":"The Temperature in This Iranian City Just Hit 164 Degrees"}}]}] ```